My Last Breath
by nightwinde
Summary: Can you hear me... can you feel me in your arms? It's a mission gone wrong, and Sakura and Neji have to face life. [NejiSaku] [oneshot]


**A/N:** I was crying when I wrote this, really. It's a songfic to Evanescence's **My Last Breath**, which I do not own, by the way. I hope you enjoy it.

**Disclaimer: **The characters belong to Kishimoto, and the song belongs to Evanescence. I own nothing but the writing.

* * *

**_my last breath_**

The mission was so simple that it was almost laughable. Sneak into the enemy's base, obtain the two scrolls buried deep within the heart of it, and sneak back out. The Godaime Hokage had charged it as a B-Class mission and just sent two shinobi on it.

But now, standing on the balcony on top of the Hokage Tower and looking up at the sky, she wondered if that had been a mistake.

- - -

The enemy's base was hardly guarded at all. On the outside were four nins on patrol—there were no cameras or traps in sight. The two sent to retrieve the scroll snuck inside without any trouble at all. The male member of the team made a small gesture with his hand and the female frowned before scanning the room around them carefully. Then she took off in a direction and wordlessly, the male followed. Eventually, they found their target: the two scrolls. These, at least, were being carefully monitored by cameras and protected by various traps.

It was nothing to worry about, though. They had it all planned out.

The male pulled out a small device from his pocket, one meant to disrupt electric flow. He looked at the female and she nodded while pulling out a scroll to hold in each hand. He pressed the button and the lights in the room flickered and died. The female put her hands together and substituted the scrolls that had been in her hand with the scrolls in the middle of the room.

She nodded when she was done, and although he couldn't see her through the darkness, he could somehow _feel _it. He released the button and immediately, the lights in the room came back to life.

They returned to the room they'd been in earlier and the female slipped the scrolls in her pack before she deftly leaped out the window. Seconds later, the male followed after her.

They exchanged small smiles—another mission had been completed successfully—and set out to return to Konoha and get some rest before the inevitable next mission.

Everything was so perfect, so complete...

...who would have ever guessed things could go so terribly wrong?

- - -

_Hold on to me, love  
You know I can't stay long  
All I wanted to say was  
I love you and I'm not afraid_

What was it that had gone so wrong? The return had been going well—they had gotten halfway back to Konoha without incident and in record time. And then the male had been engaged by three unknown enemies.

"Neji!" the female had shouted, eyes wide. And then she had been attacked, as well.

What had happened afterwards was still a blur of kicks, punches, jutsus, weapons, and blood. All Neji knew was that he'd heard a slicing noise from somewhere nearby, he felt an ache in his chest, and blood he knew wasn't his made its way to the corner of his vision. His adversaries suddenly drew back and disappeared, leaving the forest empty and quiet.

Confused and worried beyond reason, he searched around for his companion. His heart stopped when he finally saw her. She was laying on her back on the forest ground; getting closer, he noticed the river of blood flowing from a gaping wound in her chest. Her pink hair, mussed up and blood-covered, was splayed out like a halo around her head.

"Sakura," he murmured quietly, desperately.

Slowly, her eyes opened, bright and green but with a fading light, and she smiled sadly. "Don't. It's too late." Her voice was quiet, weak... so different from what he was accustomed to.

It pained him to hear it.

Carefully, he pulled her into his arms. "It was _him_, wasn't it?"

"It doesn't matter now," she replied, but now he knew. He knew who had done this to her. "Please don't... seek revenge... like him, Neji. I..." she winced at an onslaught of pain. "I love you. You made my life... complete. I can die happy."

Neji shook his head, keeping his tears in. "No... no... I won't let you go, Sakura..."

_Can you hear me?  
Can you feel me in your arms?_

Sakura just smiled that same sad smile at him. "It's... too late." She struggled to grab hold of her departing strength and took in a deep breath of air.

Neji noticed. "Don't... don't speak," he commanded, voice threatening to crack.

His mysterious, white eyes locked with her alluring, green ones and the forest was silent.

_Holding my last breath  
Safe inside myself  
Are all my thoughts of you  
Sweet raptured light  
It ends here tonight_

She looked up at him. The pain she was feeling at the moment was immense, but she wouldn't show it to him. He was in enough pain as it was, she could tell. There was no need to add on to it. Memories came rushing at her—was this what people meant when they spoke of your entire life flashing before your eyes?

Their dates (Neji had been so awkward around her then), their marriage (Kakashi and Naruto had nearly killed Neji then, for daring to touch_our Sakura-chan_), their first child (she could still remember the laughter and tears that had escaped from her that day), the birth of the twins soon after (they were so beautiful, both of them, and her joy was endless)...

Everything around her was getting so much brighter, glaring, shining in her eyes. Oh God, how she wanted to close her eyes.

_'Don't close them, don't close them,'_ a voice in her head begged. Was this her old, younger self that she had buried so many years before? _'I don't want it all to end yet. Don't close them, don't close them!'_

But she was so tired... so, so tired...

_'No, don't!'_

Sakura struggled to keep herself conscious, but she was fighting a losing battle.

She could feel herself slipping.

_I'll miss the winter  
A world of fragile things  
Look for me in the white forest  
Hiding in a hollow tree (come find me...)_

Sakura didn't speak, afraid the next breath she expelled would be her last.

_'Just a little longer,'_ that same little voice begged as she looked into Neji's white eyes, currently shining with unshed tears. _'Please, let me stay a little longer.'_

Neji's eyes led Sakura to a winter world... that had been when she first realized she loved him, while fighting (with snowballs) in the training area, delicate white flakes falling gently to the ground around them. The light flush on his cheeks from the cold, the way he looked with snow dripping off of him...

When she died, would she go there? To a world of everlasting winter, where the snow would never melt into spring? Or would death be just endless, dreamless sleep?

"I'll miss it, the winter..." Sakura said breathily, almost as a whisper.

_I know you hear me  
I can taste it in your tears_

Neji stared at her as she said it, and finally, tears leaked from his eyes. They slid down his cheeks, his chin, until they dropped onto her face. They continued to flow, sliding down his face and onto hers.

They slid onto her lips, wet and salty.

Sakura blinked slowly, feeling her own tears slipping out. They mingled and mixed, his and hers, and a combination of both fell onto her lips.

This time, the taste was decidedly bittersweet.

_Holding my last breath  
Safe inside myself  
Are all my thoughts of you  
Sweet raptured light  
It ends here tonight_

Sakura gathered up all her strength and took in a shaky breath. This was it, the end. She knew she couldn't last very much longer.

"The kids," she whispered. "They'll grow up nice and strong... Hizashi... tell him he'll be... a great shinobi... he's so much like you..."

Neji kept shaking his head from side to side, willing her to stop. He didn't want to accept it, he didn't want to hear it... but no matter how much he resisted against it, it was still there. He was still Neji, she was still Sakura, and she was still there, dying in his arms.

"And the twins..." Sakura pressed on. "Are so different... but the same... they'll be the best shinobi... of their age... in the village." Her last words came out as a whisper and her breathing was growing even more labored.

Neji's eyes widened as he realized what that meant.

_Closing your eyes to disappear  
You pray your dreams will leave you here  
But still you wake and know the truth  
No one's there_

_'Let this be a dream. Please let this be a dream.' _Neji willed. This... this wasn't supposed to happen. Why Sakura? Why him?

_'Please,'_ Neji gripped Sakura a little harder. _'Please don't let this be real!'_

But the blood felt warm at the spots where it seeped through his clothing and its coppery scent invaded his senses. Sakura's skin was growing cold beneath his fingers.

_'It's not real,' _he told himself._'Genjutsu could cause this.'_ Pulling out a kunai with a shaking hand, he purposefully stabbed it into his leg.

"Neji..."

The soft whisper reached his ears, invaded his mind, and drew out a multitude of memories and emotions he didn't want to experience.

This wasn't a dream.

This was real.

_Say goodnight  
Don't be afraid  
Calling me, calling me as you fade to black_

_'Oh, God,' _Sakura thought, her gut clenching at another wave of pain. Her strength was draining. It was only a matter of seconds before everything would disappear and eternal sleep would take her.

Even while she struggled to stay awake, her eyelids drooped as her strength left her.

"Sakura! Sakura!" he was right there, right next to her, holding her in his arms... and yet the desperate cry sounded so far away to her ears. As she peered at him through half-lidded eyes, she could just barely make out the sorrow and pain etched into his face.

"Sakura!"

_(Say goodnight) Holding my last breath  
(Don't be afraid) Safe inside myself  
(Calling me, calling me) Are all my thoughts of you  
Sweet raptured light  
It ends here tonight_

"Good-bye, Neji," Sakura whispered with her final breath and her last ounce of strength. "I... love... you..."

And then she fell limp and lifeless in his arms, a sad yet peaceful smile gracing her lips.

At that moment, in that forest, Hyuuga Neji cried more than he ever had in his life.

- - -

At her funeral, the afternoon sun shone brightly—was it Sakura's way of telling her friends and family not to dwell on her loss? Everyone's dark apparel contrasted greatly against the glaring brightness of the sun, the sky, and everything around them.

Naruto was openly crying beside his wife as Tsunade recited the speech she had written for the occasion, although with difficulty. Countless bottles of saké had been consumed the night she had written it. Sakura's son, Hyuuga Hizashi, stood beside his father, attempting to appear solemn through his tears. The twins, Yuki and Hana, stood on the other side of him and they made no attempt to conceal their feelings.

"Hyuuga Sakura," Tsunade said to all that had gathered, "was the life and joy of our village, and although she may now be gone, she will never be forgotten."

"Never."

- - -

Twenty years later, Hyuuga Hizashi stands in front of a single gravestone, staring at the words engraved onto it.

"Hizashi..." a female voice calls out softly to him as the owner of it entwines her hand with his. "Come on, we're going to be late..."

"Right... Let's go, Kushina." With one last glance at the inscription on the gravestone, they leave.

- - -

_GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN_

_HYUUGA NEJI AND HYUUGA SAKURA  
LOVING HUSBAND AND WIFE  
MAY THEY BE TOGETHER IN LIFE AND IN DEATH_


End file.
